Tale of Two Worlds
by Taril
Summary: Tyson, Max, Kai, Ray, Kenny, Hilary, and Daichi are hurled into a world they never knew existed. Along the way, they meet a dragon child, wolf demon, and many others. They must fight for their lives, but there may be no way out...
1. A New Beginning

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of Beyblade, J.R.R. Tolkien's works, Inu Yasha, or Gene Roddenberry's works. I only own my own characters. Please ask me if you intend to use my characters.

CAUTION: Mild swearing and some violence and bloodshed.

NOTE: This story takes place after G Revolution. Tyson and co. are currently at Tyson's house. Also, the former Bladebreakers will be in the story… ALL of them!

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

Remember, review!

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Chapter 1: A New Beginning

"Tyson, wait up!" called Kenny, as Tyson moved towards the door. "Aw come on, Chief, I'm hungry, so hurry up!" Daichi walked out of the house and said, "Okay, Tyson, we're coming. You don't have to rush, you know."

Tyson ran out the yard before anyone else could say something. Kenny and Daichi winced as they heard a crash and Tyson yelling, "Hey, watch where you're going!"

Daichi and Kenny ran out of the yard to find Tyson and a boy on the ground. Kenny gasped, "Tyson, what happened!" Tyson said, "Some clumsy dude smashed into me and gave me a huge bump on my head!"

"Hey, watch what you say, kid!" Everyone looked over at the kid Tyson had knocked down. He had long black hair streaked with silver pulled in a high ponytail and his ears were pointed. He was wearing a dark gray jacket with black edges and black pants and black boots. He looked to be about 15 or so and his eyes were dark brown.

Tyson stood up and glared at the kid, "What, you got a problem with how I talk?" The kid got up as well and was a few inches taller than Tyson. He snarled, "Yeah, I got a problem. My problem is that you're the one who knocked me down, not the other way around. I'm not the clumsy one, you are!"

Tyson was about to say something back when Hilary came around the corner and asked curiously, "Hey guys, what's going on?" Daichi shrugged, "I don't know, Tyson wanted to eat out, so he rushed out and someone crashed into him or something."

The kid growled, "I did NOT crash into him!" An authorative voice cut in, "Come on, Koguro, we're wasting our time here, let's go." Tyson, Hilary, Daichi and Kenny all stared at the owner of the voice. A pair of emerald green eyes stared back at them, somewhat annoyed.

The green eyes belonged to a girl of average height. She looked about the same age as Koguro and she wore a white jacket with dark blue edges and it had a turtle neck. She wore white pants and light brown boots. She had straight orange hair and her ears were pointed, like Koguro's, but sharper.

Daichi eyes widened and he said, "Whoa, are those ears real?" Kenny moaned, "Daichi!" The girl's eyes narrowed and she said stiffly, "Let's go, Koguro." Koguro wrinkled his nose in disgust and replied, "Yeah, let's get out of here before my nose gets swamped by the smell of those _children._"

A vein throbbed in Tyson's temple and he roared, "How dare you!" and was about to charge at Koguro but was held back by Kenny, Hilary and Daichi. "Chill, Tyson! You're just going to give him the satisfaction of knowing you can get riled!" Tyson growled as he glared at Koguro and the girl's figures rounding the corner.

Kenny sighed, "Tyson, you need to be more mindful of what you say to people." Tyson groaned, "Look Kenny, I don't need to be lectured right now, okay? I just want to eat."

Daichi roared, "Then what are we waiting for, let's go!"

* * *

Ray found himself walking towards an old abandoned warehouse at the back of a dark alley. He also found that he couldn't control himself, no matter how hard he tried.

His body entered the old warehouse and Ray was shocked to find what looked like a portal or a gateway. Ray approached it slowly and saw a thin forest at the edge of a plain.

Some instinct cried out to Ray to not touch the portal, but his body had stopped listening to him and his hand slowly reached out to the rippling image.

His world suddenly jolted and the image turned into crackling energy, sucking Ray into it. He felt as if he was falling. A roaring filled his ears and he fell off his bed, stunned and gasping for air.

Mariah stared down at Ray with wide eyes, "Ray, are you okay? You looked like you were having a nightmare or something." Ray blinked incomprehensibly at her, then shook his head and stood up, "I'm fine, it was just some weird dream."

Mariah nodded her head, unconvinced, "Okay, Ray. Oh, Lee wanted me to tell you that we're going out for breakfast, so if you want to come with us, you'll have to get dressed and meet us down in the lobby in ten minutes." Ray nodded and grabbed his shirt and went into the washroom.

'What a strange dream, it almost seems… real.' Ray thought as he washed up. He felt a weak tug on his mind and frowned, 'I think I'm going crazy.' He suddenly thought back to his dream and shook his head, 'Or someone or some _thing_ is trying to tell me something. Okay, I am just being paranoid.'

He left the hotel room and went downstairs and looked around. 'Mariah and the guys must've left already. I guess I'll just go for a walk, I'm not that hungry anyway.'

Ray wandered lazily through the streets of the small town in which he and the rest of the White Tiger X are staying. He gazed at the various shops and stores along the street he was walking on and at the children running around.

The sound of people yelling reached his sensitive ears and he wandered over to the source of the sound. What Ray saw a moment later brought a grin to his face.

"I'm still hungry!" A dark blue haired teenager yelled. A girl yelled back, "Too bad, Tyson! You're not getting any more! If you do, we're all going to go broke!" Another voice joined in, "Will you two shut up! All your yelling is driving me crazy!"

"Oh, look who's talking! You're louder than any of us!" Ray shook his head and smiled, 'There they go again, always yelling at each other. I think I should go calm them down, the people in the store are getting a bit annoyed with them.'

He walked up to them and said, "Uh, guys? The people in the store are getting quite annoyed with you guys yelling." Kenny groaned, "Finally, someone who can calm these people down." Tyson, Hilary and Daichi looked up at Ray. Tyson blinked, the grinned widely, "Hey, Ray! How are you?" Hilary and Daichi both smiled and said hi.

Tyson continued, somewhat quieter, "So, what are you doing, and where's the rest of the White Tiger X?" Ray shrugged, "The guys went off to find breakfast. I didn't feel hungry so I decided to take a walk, and that's how I found you guys."

Then, a jolly voice spoke up, "Hey guys, what's up?" Tyson shouted out in surprise, "Max! What are you doing here?" Max grinned widely and said, "Just checking out the commotion. With all the noise you guys were making, half the town can hear you!"

Hilary and Tyson and Daichi were arguing among themselves again and Max was asking Kenny about something, but Ray didn't notice them, for his attention was drawn to the alley beside the store. His ears picked up a faint voice deep in the alley. "Ray… help me…" Ray frowned slightly, 'It sounds like… Mariah!'

Kenny noticed Ray's expression and asked, "Ray, are you okay?" Tyson, Hilary, Max and Daichi all calmed down and looked at Ray. Tyson got up and waved his hand in Ray's face. "Yo, Ray. You in there, man?" Ray glanced sharply at Tyson, "Mariah's in trouble!" He then darted down the alley.

Tyson yelled, "Ray!" He followed Ray into the alley. Hilary groaned and told a waiter, "Put the tab under Mr. Dickenson!" Their friends ran after Tyson and Ray.

"Ray, wait up!" Ray ignored his friends' cries and ran further down. What he saw at the end of the alley shocked him. He saw the warehouse that had appeared in his dream and gasped. Tyson caught up to him and wheezed, "What's wrong with you, man! Running off like that!" Daichi and the others caught up and stared at the warehouse.

Hilary said, "I didn't know there was a warehouse in here!" Everyone nodded in agreement. Ray frowned, then strode up to the abandoned warehouse's doors. Tyson hissed, "Ray, what do you think you're doing!" Kenny whimpered, "I don't think we should be here."

Ray ignored them and walked into the warehouse. Everyone shivered at the sight of him seemingly getting swallow by the darkness. Tyson groaned and said, "Come on." He then followed Ray into the warehouse.

In the dim light of the warehouse, Ray heard hushed voices in the far back of the warehouse. His friends were about to say something when he held up his hand for silence. He strained his ears and picked up faint traces of conversation. "What if people find out… they can't know… perilous…" He heard a small intake of breath from Hilary.

He waved his hand at his friends and they followed him quietly, navigating around stacks of boxes.

What they found at the end of the warehouse brought shock to them all. A tall gateway stood in front of the back wall and in it, a shimmering view of a thin forest. In front of it stood Tanika and a wolf.

Tanika and the wolf were having a hushed conversation, "We need to get help, if we don't, the problem will get worse." Tanika said. The wolf shook its head, "No, if news of these gateways appearing out of nowhere gets out, both worlds will go into chaos!"

Tanika snorted, "Lissësúl has already started falling apart, and Earth is always in chaos, and you still talk as if both worlds are fine, as they were hundreds of years ago!" The wolf shook its head adamantly, "I don't mean any offense, but I know humans more than you do, and they can cause more trouble than you know. Just by having a gateway appear here is bad enough, but what if some blundering human finds out?"

Hilary gasped and Kenny accidentally knocked down a box. The wolf snarled and disappeared, turning into Koguro, which prompted Daichi to lose his balance and crash into Tyson and they both tumbled out into the open. The rest guiltily came out into the open.

They could hear the cold fury in Tanika's voice, "Why are you _here_? You should not be here!" Koguro growled deeply, but before he could say anything, he glimpsed a pair of indigo eyes in the dark.

The pair of eyes blinked in surprise. 'This is getting quite interesting…' Kai raised a blue eyebrow and thought back to how he had come upon this strange scene.

_Flashback_:

Dranzer was spinning on the broken concrete when Kai's head shot up. The noise of people running and shouting reached his ears. He raised an eyebrow and a ghost of a smile came and went. The shouts and the pounding got louder, "Ray, wait up!" Kai collected Dranzer and jumped into a leafy tree and waited patiently.

Ray burst out of an alley and stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse. Tyson and the others caught up to Ray and Tyson subjected Ray to some verbal abuse.

Then, Ray and company went into the warehouse. Kai jumped down quietly and followed them in.

_-Flashback ends-_

His ears picked up a rustling sound behind him and Kai turned around in time to see a pair of angry brown eyes before the person rammed into him. Kai and the person tumbled out into the open, where everyone gaped in shock at them.

The person growled in anger and a pair of very sharp looking canine teeth glinted in the dim light the gateway gave out. The duo continued to grapple and tumble about, and Kai started to feel a bit weak, when he was involuntarily provided with the distraction he needed.

"Koguro, what… how…!" Koguro looked up for a moment at Tanika for a brief moment, and that was the break Kai needed. Kai tucked his legs in and gave a powerful push with his legs and kicked Koguro into a piled of cardboard boxes. The boxes tumbled down on top of and around the dazed Koguro and buried him from sight.

Kai stood up, a bit wobbly and walked over to his friends who were standing, looking aghast. Max stared at Kai, "Are you okay, Kai?" Kai grunted and looked at Tanika. "You," he said with a smirk, "should get explaining."

Tanika gazed at him unperturbed "Why should I listen to you?" Kai stared back at her, "In case you haven't noticed, I just knocked out your friend and you are outnumbered." Tanika smiled dangerously, "Don't let size fool you, and are you sure you knocked out Koguro? I think you'd better check!"

"Don't let her fool you, Kai." Ray warned. Kai glanced at him, "I assure you, I'm very hard to fool." Tanika raised her eyebrows and grinned. Daichi whined, "Stop grinning like that, you're giving me the creeps." Tanika's grin started to look dangerous.

A dark blur came flying out and collided with Kai at high speed. It turned out to be Koguro. The pair went tumbling down again, but this time, the impact of Koguro's collision sent them tumbling into the gateway.

The gently rippling image of a meadow with a forest at the edge sucked them in and a bright, white light engulfed the warehouse.

"KAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

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This is my first chapter of this story! Please tell me if any of the Beyblade people are out of character! I appreciate all your help. Also, tell me what you think of my own characters!

I will explain what Lissësúl is next chapter.

And remember, please take just a few seconds to review, it'll help a LOT!


	2. Long Awaited Explanation

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of Beyblade, J.R.R. Tolkien's works, Inu Yasha, or Gene Roddenberry's works. I only own my own characters. Please ask me if you intend to use my characters.

CAUTION: Mild swearing and some violence and bloodshed.

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Chapter 2: Long Awaited Explanation

"KAAAAAIIIIIIIIIII!"

The former Bladebreakers' collective scream echoed in the musty warehouse. Tyson surged forward and leaped into the gateway before anyone could react, and Daichi dove into the gateway after him. Tanika stepped forward and gasped, "NO!"

The gateway glowed and white, crackling energy played across the rippling surface. Ray and Max nodded to each other in determination and both strode towards the gateway. The crackling energy sucked them in without hesitation.

The gateway glowed brighter and the energy became manic. Tanika spat out, "Damned idiotic humans!" and rushed the gateway, grabbing onto Hilary and Kenny, dragging them all in.

The energy ceased and the gateway stopped glowing.

Dead silence.

Birds flew in alarm as the warehouse blew up, raining twisted metal on houses.

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Tyson groaned and opened his eyes, only to close them again in pain as sunlight pierced his eyes. His head throbbed in pain as he sat up. Through the pounding in his head, he could hear several birds singing. "Aw, shut up, you're making it worse." He grumbled.

Someone moaned and Tyson turned his head painfully to look at Koguro. Koguro shook his head and stood up slowly, swaying on the spot. Tyson squinted at him painfully, "Yo, man, what happened?" Koguro rubbed the back of his head, "Shut up, kid. I need to think."

Tyson shrugged and crawled over to where Max and Ray lay. He shook Max and Ray, "Hey, Max, Ray, get up, guys." Ray cracked open one eye and aimed it at Tyson, "Tyson, what happened? All I remember is a blinding flash of light…" Beside him, Max groaned.

Ray sat up and shook Max, "Max, wake up!" Max groaned and opened his eyes. He looked around him and slowly whistled, "Where are we?..."

"You are in the fields of Uralkar. The gateway brought you here." Max, Tyson and Ray turned around to see Tanika, who was cradling her left arm gently. Before any of them could speak, Kai, Daichi, Kenny and Hilary stumbled over to them.

Daichi wailed, "Can somebody tell me where we are and how we got here!" Everyone winced at the noise level and Tanika snapped, "I told you! We're in the fields of Uralkar. The gateway brought us here."

Ray rubbed his head gingerly, "Say, this is just like the dream I had this morning!" Everyone looked at him in surprise. Tanika looked at him curiously, "You had a dream of this place?" Ray shook his head and winced again, "No, I had a dream about that gateway that you said we passed through. But when I touched the gateway in my dream, I woke up."

Everyone turned again as Koguro walked up to them with a dangerous looking bird in silver armour fit on his shoulder. Tanika nodded in relief, "Good, she found you."

Kenny stared at the raven curiously, "Why do you have a crow on your shoulder?" The raven rustled its wings and squawked, as if it understood Kenny's words. Koguro narrowed his eyes, annoyed, "For your information, she's a raven, not a crow."

Hilary looked confused, "But why is she wearing armour?" To their surprise, Koguro snorted and muttered something, then said, "Because she is Ianiyre." The raven rubbed her feathered head against Koguro's head.

Max raised his eyebrows, "And what is a …Ianiree?" Koguro winced and explained, "It's pronounced Ee-ahn-ee-yeer-ray. The Ianiyre are an extremely strong race that does not usually interact with any other races here in Lissësúl. But in the other world, they're called bitbeasts."

Ray's eyes widened in surprise, "You mean, that raven there …is a bitbeast? I thought bitbeasts can't leave their Beyblades for a long time!"

Tanika rubbed her left arm painfully and frowned, "That's in your world. You see, the Ianiyre originated in this world, and as long as this world lives, the Ianiyre will continue to live. Ah, explaining all this will take too long and my arm needs tending to. After we make camp, I and perhaps Koguro, if he's not occupied, will explain everything to you, since there is currently no way for you to get back."

Koguro said crisply, "Raviamria tells of a place, not too far from here, where we can make camp. She wants us to follow her." The raven cawed and took off, circling high over their heads once, then headed off toward the west.

Everyone turned and followed the raven.

After a while, they reached a small grove of thirty spacious trees. The raven landed on one of the branches and looked at everyone expectantly. Hilary placed her hands on her hips and frowned, "You're telling us that we're going to sleep here!" Koguro rolled his eyes, "What did you expect, a five star hotel with room service and cheap prices?" Hilary's face turned red.

Suddenly, a black horse with a white mane and tail and gold armour galloped up to Tanika and whickered softly. Tanika grinned and stroke the horse, "I see you found us. Did you find any trouble while we were gone?"

The horse flicked his tail and it seemed to the former Bladebreakers that it glared daggers at the raven perched on the branch. In response, the raven puffed up its feathers and turned its head away.

Tanika shook her head in amusement, "You two just keep going, do you not?" The horse whickered again and tossed his head. Tanika shook her head again and turned back to the others.

She looked them over and said, "Koguro, you and ...the neko-jin and you," she pointed at Kai, "will go to look for food, and the rest of you go look for firewood."

She noticed some of them started to open their mouths in complaint, and snapped, "Do it! Don't argue with me, because it's making my arm hurt worse than it already is!" Koguro took a step towards her, and she glared at him, "Loru will handle it, now leave!" Everyone split up and went off to fulfill their duties.

Tyson whined as he picked up a dead branch, "Aw jeez, why am I stuck with such a wimpy task!" Hilary stamped her feet, "I know! This is like, screwed! We can't sleep outside; we'll get eaten by crazy animals!" Max whispered loudly to Daichi and Kenny, who were next to him, "You know there's a problem when those two start agreeing all of a sudden."

Kenny and Daichi nodded in silent agreement. Hilary glared at them and they shrank under her heated glare. Kenny suggested fearfully, "I think we have enough firewood for the night… maybe we should go back now."

Tyson whooped, "Alright! I'm starving!" and ran off back to the direction they came from. Daichi called after him, "Hey, wait up, Tyson! Save some for me!" Hilary rolled her eyes and huffed, "He's such a dumbass. It's as if he can't live without being the first one to eat." Max grinned, and ran off after Daichi.

Kenny wailed, "Guys, wait up, don't leave us here alone! There could be… monsters out here!" Hilary groaned, "There is no such thing as monsters, Kenny. Can't you just…" she halted as a branch cracked not too far away. Kenny whimpered, "What was that?" Hilary shushed him and turned towards the sound.

"Hey guys, what's with the creeped out faces? Did you see a ghost or something?" Hilary and Kenny glared at Ray, who was grinning widely. "Come on, let's head back, Koguro and Kai caught a deer. We'll be having venison tonight. Camping out is great, don't you think?" Hilary and Kenny only glared more at him.

Koguro came up behind Ray with a deer over his shoulder and frowned at them, "What's with the staring contest? I thought we're supposed to get back to camp, not standing around staring at each other like you got nothing else to do. Get going, I'm not going to lug this deer around forever, you know."

Kenny's face paled dramatically when he saw the dead deer over Koguro's shoulder. He went even paler when he saw the smear of blood on Koguro's cheek. Kai walked up behind him and said with a hint of amusement, "You're not going to faint on us, are you?" Kenny squeaked and jumped into the air.

By the time Kenny recovered, the group was already disappearing behind a clump of trees. He squeaked again and ran off after them.

Tyson looked up from the fire Tanika had made and grinned, "Jeez, how slow are you guys? Hurry up, I'm starving!" Koguro dropped the deer in front of Tyson and went straight to Tanika, "Your arm?"

"Is fine now. You should prepare dinner; it's going to be nightfall soon." Tanika nodded towards the deer.

Koguro dragged the deer in front of the fireplace and pulled out a knife out of his right boot. "It's handy in cases like this," he explained to the confused audience in front of him, "also, you might want to look away if you don't want to lose your appetite." Almost everyone immediately looked away, except for Kai and Tanika.

A while later, the smell of roasted venison wafted up their noses. Tyson drooled, "Mmmm… I can't wait to eat!" Hilary rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Disgusting, greedy pig. It's like you got an endless pit for a stomach or something."

Tyson stuck out his tongue at Hilary, "Hey, at least I'm not some crazy control freak who likes to poke her nose into everyone else's business." Hilary's eyes widened in surprise and she crossed her arms protectively, "Well, a control freak is way better than some sloppy fat ass." Tyson glared at her, but thankfully, was distracted by the hot slice of meat that landed on his face.

"Shut up and eat, or else you're not getting anymore." Koguro directed to Tyson before he tore into his thick slice of bloody venison.

Max grinned, "Hey, I never knew venison tasted that good!" Everyone else nodded in agreement. Tanika looked at Kai quizzically, "Will you not eat?" Kai grunted and looked away into the little grove of trees.

Ray grinned assuringly at Tanika, "Don't worry, Kai's always like that." Tanika raised an eyebrow and looked back at Kai, "You should still eat. Tomorrow will be a long day. We will need to journey due west and it will be arduous work."

Kai turned from the grove and smirked at her, "Look, kid, I don't get tired. So quit getting on my back and go back to whatever you're doing."

A look of annoyance passed over Tanika's face and she returned with, "Do not expect me or Koguro or any of your friends to carry you across marshland tomorrow. If you fall, you will be left behind. The choice is yours." Kai just grunted again and turned away.

Kenny looked up, scared, "What do you mean we have to cross marshlands tomorrow!" Tanika glanced at Koguro and explained, "We need to journey west tomorrow, and the only way out of the Fields of Uralkar is to travel across the marshlands, which takes about half a day to cross, at the least."

"After that, we must cross a wide stream, but not as wide or deep as the river fencing the Fields off from the north and west." The former Bladebreakers looked shocked, and even Tyson forgot about his food for a while.

Ray blinked, "I think it's best if you explain the whole thing to us…" Tanika shook her orange head, "Nay, it is too difficult for someone even like me to explain. The process will take forever. There is a way, but only the power of the Ianiyre can incite this process." Tanika looked expectantly at the horse and the raven.

Koguro nodded, "Raviamria agrees to it." The horse stomped the ground and snorted. Tanika nodded gravely and turned to the humans (and neko-jin) and said, "Prepare yourselves."

Raviamria suddenly launched herself into the darkening sky and emitted a white painful bright light and it filled the area, causing everyone to squeeze their eyes shut.

-----------------------------

Everyone opened their eyes again and stared at the scene in front of them:

A giggle erupted from the crown of a tree in a quiet forest and a handsome young man of about 20 years of age gazed up into the tree. "Come now, Ravia, you do know that the purpose of the game of hide-and-seek is to hide from whoever's looking for you and keep quiet, right?"

The giggle subsided, only to start up again with a snort. The young man rolled his eyes impatiently, "It is time for dinner, Ravia. Come down, before Mother gets frustrated."

A girl of seven years of age dropped down from the crown of the tree and ran to catch up with the young man. She was considered extremely beautiful by today's terms and she had shining raven-dark hair and large eyes just as dark and pale skin.

"It's not my fault I can't hold my laughter very well, brother mine." The girl looked up at the young man and grinned. The young man, her brother, shook his head, "Come, I'll race you to the house." He then took off towards the house in the distance.

The young girl's laughter rang in the woods and she ran after him. To any being that may have been watching, the girl's feet seemed to not touch the ground as she ran to catch up with her brother.

_A flash of blinding white, then:_

"Ravia, I must leave for a few days at the least. Do you think you can handle everything while I'm gone?" A beautiful young woman gazed at the young man in front of her and she eyes held a worried look, "I can do it. But, be careful, I feel that something terrible will happen to you on your journey. Promise me, dear brother."

The young man nodded gravely, for the young woman sometimes had premonitions, and they were usually correct. "I promise you, little sister, that I will be careful. Now I must be off. Look out for me in a month or so." The woman hugged him and saw him to the edge of the forest where they lived, and he disappeared into the morning mists.

_Weeks flew by and until one day:_

The young woman sat on a branch beside her house, 'It has almost been two weeks, and still no sign of my brother. Should I search for him?' She hopped off the branch and gathered her skirts around her and walked back to her house.

When she arrived back at her house, she sat down on a bench and looked off into the forest. Suddenly, a hazy figure slowly materialized in the clearing in front of her and she gasped, for it was her brother, but badly injured. Someone appeared behind him and he cried out silently as a metal chain passed across his back.

The young woman opened her eyes and found herself lying prone on the ground. 'Brother…'

_Another flash of blinding white, then:_

The landscape was scorched and blackened by fire and war. The clang of metal on metal rang in the man's ears, but the eyes, now dull and lifeless, showed no emotion. Chains bound his hands and feet, and a metal collar dug into heavily scarred neck.

A grotesque creature snarled at him and cracked a metallic whip above the man's head. It received no reaction.

All around the man, many people were also dragging chains as they walked.

Heads turned as the main gate banged open and four creatures came in dragging a struggling figure. One of the bigger creatures turned around and snarled something into the figure's face, causing the figure to thrash about wildly. The creatures laughed harshly and threw the figure onto the ground and left, the heavy metal gate crashing to a close behind them.

The others turned away, but the man, out of long suppressed curiosity, walked up to the figure who by then had stood up. The person narrowed his eyes at the approaching man and crouched into a fighting position.

The newcomer's clothing, although somewhat damaged, revealed that he was a warrior. He had waist length blond hair and a slender and tall build. The man paused in his step and held up a hand, "I won't hurt you…Elf."

The newcomer just glared in response and slowly reached down into his right boot. The man continued, "As I said, I will not hurt you, and it would be unwise to continue what you are about to do. Others are watching." The Elf grudgingly obliged, but still held his fighting stance.

"Come to my shelter, it will be safer there," the man waited for a response, then sighed, "I don't think you want your fancy clothes to be ripped off by the inhabitants of this…place."

The man turned away and walked towards a small makeshift tent. After a while, a glimpse of green and gold appeared at the edge of his eye. The man smiled a smile that went unnoticed by all.

He opened a flap of his tent and went in. A moment later, the Elf followed and stood at the opening of the tent, looking about warily, as if expecting an ambush anytime soon.

The man sighed and ran a hand through his grimy, unkempt hair and said, "You might as well tell me your name, because you're going to be here for a long time." The Elf looked at him unconvincingly. The man sighed again and said, "My name is Lorugaild. I was captured five years ago and sent here to live out my life as a prisoner, a slave."

The Elf gazed at him and the man realized for the first time that he had unnerving blue, almost grey, eyes. He also had the feeling that the Elf was looking him over, looking for some sort of deceit.

Minutes passed, until the Elf said in a heavily accented, but clear, voice, "Ferin, a warrior." Lorugaild nodded and nodded at Ferin's left arm. "You should clean that, unless you want an infection."

Ferin looked down in surprise at his left arm and touched the wound gingerly. His slender fingers came away sticky and dark red with warm blood. A roll of surprisingly clean bandages dropped into his lap. "Here, use that." Ferin looked at Lorugaild suspiciously, then unrolled a length of cloth.

An explosion suddenly shook the ground.

_Another flash of blinding white, then:_

A bird's eye view of a foreign land came into focus, and numerous races were born, and died, all in a few seconds. The viewer was shown the awakening of Elves, children of dragons, wolves, and many more.

Soon after these were created, humans came. They were at first naïve, until the Elves taught them many things. After that, they became filled with greed, and started pillaging the land. They even tricked the children of dragons to believe the wolves had committed the worst crime possible.

The wolves were banished to another world, and the humans continued in what they did, until the other races held a council. Their subject of discussion: humans.

The war devastated the land and filled the creatures with sorrow and pain. But the deed was done. Human were driven out of Lissësúl and into the neighboring world.

_Everything faded into white, then into the real world._

There was silence. Then Tyson said, "Uh… I don't get it. Can you guys tell us, like, in summary?" Raviamria, Tanika, and Koguro fell down (anime style) and Tanika groaned, "How thick is your skull!"

Koguro sat up and glared at them, "You guys are such idiots!" Tanika sighed heavily, "Fine, I'll summarize it." She rolled her eyes and started summarizing.

"Alright, first of all, there is a world called Lissësúl. That is this world. Lissësúl was the first world to be created. Then, came another world, which you humans live in and you call yours."

"In this world, the first creatures to awaken were the Ianiyre. They are also known as your so-called bitbeasts. And then there are Elves. Just as beautiful, and almost just as deadly. Dwarves came around shortly after. And, there are the children of the dragon. They consist mainly of spell casters and don't usually interact with other species. I am one of them."

"After that, came the wolves. They were the guardians of the children of dragons. Very loyal and brave, but sometimes just as foolhardy," Tanika swatted away the hard poke Koguro was about to give her, "They can choose to live in the shape of a wolf or in the shape of a person. They were banished by the dragon-children because the dragon-children were deceived by the neko-jin. Koguro is a wolf."

"The Neko-jin are a catlike race. Often very sly and they like to resort to trickery. But that is not the case for some of their tribes. They deceived the dragon-children into believing the wolves had committed the worst crime possible and had the wolves banished. But after 500 years, the tribes involved got found out and were also banished into the other world."

"After that, the land was peaceful…somewhat, until humans became filled with greed and suspicion. They started pillaging and provoking other races to wage wars against them. The situation became unbearable and the other races came together for a council."

"The council decided to band the races together and defeat the humans. But the wolves had left by then, and the neko-jin had problems of their own, so in reality, it was only the dragon-children and the Elves, since the dwarves didn't come out of the mountains. The Ianiyre did not come. And on the day of the great battle, the armies gathered together."

"The Elves and dragon-children battled the humans, and losses were drastic on all sides, but the ones that suffered the most were the Elves. More than two-thirds of their soldiers were lost. But the humans were banished into the other world."

Tyson snorted, "That sounds like some silly fairytale!" Daichi crossed his arms with a huff, "Yeah, how do we know that you aren't fooling us?" Koguro growled loudly and his teeth seemed to sharpen.

Ray looked at Tanika, "So, you're saying that my ancestors tricked your ancestors into banishing _his _ancestors to Earth?" Tanika nodded, then suddenly looked up at the sky and frowned, "It is late, and we must sleep. We have a long journey ahead of us."

Kenny whimpered, "We're going to sleep outside?" Tanika ignored him and continued, "Koguro will take first watch tonight, then I will. Now go to sleep before I knock you all unconscious!"

Tyson and company all either grumbled, whimpered, or whined as they tried to find a comfortable spot on the hard ground. A few minutes later, everyone settled down and the quiet night set in.

Near the sleeping group, a black and silver wolf raised his head and sniffed the air, then padded quietly around the group to a boulder and sat down on it, eyes gleaming in the darkness.

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The next day:

"Tyson, wake up!"

"Wake up, you fat selfish idiotic pig!"

"Come on, Tyson, wake up…"

""It's useless; the obese bastard will never wake up."

"I guess you're right, Kai, as usual."

Koguro sighed and left the boulder he was sitting on, "Here, let me do it…" 'The stupid fat human kid is such a pain in the ass…' Koguro stood beside Tyson and then, he suddenly disappeared. In his place was a black wolf streaked with silver fur. The group gasped but the wolf ignored them.

Snarling and growling filled the air and a bloodcurdling scream erupted from a certain teenaged boy with a red cap. Tyson had backed up against the trunk of a tree and was shivering ridiculously.

The wolf snapped at Tyson's feet, getting a frightened response from him, before the wolf sat down at cocked his head at Tyson with what looked almost like a triumphant grin on his face.

Tanika sighed and picked the wolf up by the scruff. "Seriously, Koguro, did you have to do that?" The wolf turned back into Koguro and grinned, "It's a nice way to start the day, you know."

He grinned at Tyson widely, showing all his teeth, "Plus, I needed to relieve tension from last night when I had to listen to this guy's snoring." Tanika sighed and shook her head, "See what I mean about foolhardiness?" Koguro rolled his eyes, "Well, someone had to wake him up!"

Just then, Raviamria flew in and shook her feathers until they were all puffy. Koguro raised his eyebrows, "Raviamria says that another gateway has opened, only about three kilometres west from here."

Tyson moaned, "Three kilometers! That's like, forever!" Kai rolled his eyes, "Shut up, Tyson. We should just go home as soon as possible and forget about this mess." The other boy glared at him and Koguro barked out a laugh, "Of all the humans I've met, you're the most idiotic and your friend over there is the smartest. But still, all of you are just lame."

Max smiled nervously and said, "Uh, why don't we just start walking…" Kenny nodded fervently and Ray just shook his head with a grin on his face.

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After what seems to be forever (but is actually two and a half hours):

The group spotted a faint glow and they sped up, and a familiar shape loomed up in front of them. Max grinned, "Hey, it's that same gateway again!" Tanika coughed, "Actually, it's a new gateway… quite young, if my studies have taught me any. The gateway we went through yesterday was very old and deteriorating."

"And so with the combined force of our bodies passing through it simultaneously, the old gateway was bound to self-destroy." Tyson and Co. stared at her, "Right….why don't we just like, go through?" Tanika nodded, "Fine, but go through it one at a time. And remember to see where you're- urgh, why won't you humans listen to me!"

Tyson, Daichi, and Hilary had stopped listening to Tanika and entered the gateway. Tanika groaned, "Not again…"

Kai suddenly frowned, "Where does this gateway lead to?" Tanika looked into the shimmery surface, "Some big city or something. It doesn't look like your home town. But doesn't matter, the faster you leave this world, the better. Now shove it!"

Tanika shoved Kai roughly into the gateway and before Kenny could speak, she pushed him in as well.

Max backed into Ray, who happened to be standing right behind him. Koguro looked at them with a devilish glint in his eyes. "So, who's up next?"

Max shook his head and grinned innocently, "Er... I'll pass, thanks, Why don't you get Ray to go first?" A hidden emotion crossed Koguro's eyes before disappearing, "No, I want you to go first, human."

Max laughed nervously, "I guess I don't have a choice, do I?" Koguro sneered, "No, you don't, human, now move it!"

While Max walked through the gateway, Tanika sighed, "Koguro, why can't you be nicer?"

Koguro grinned at her, " 'Cuz I don't want to." He motioned to Ray, "Hey, nek-…you, it's your turn." Ray frowned slightly, "What about you guys?" Tanika smiled, "We'll be right behind you."

Ray shrugged, "Well, if you say so." He walked towards the gateway.

Tendrils of magic licked Ray's bare arms as he neared the gateway. Then, the tendrils pulled him into the blinding whiteness.

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I hope I didn't bore any of you with the extremely long explanation of Lissësúl… Anyway, tell me what you think of the chapter and what I should improve on!

Thanks for reading, now review!


	3. The Crowd

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of Beyblade, J.R.R. Tolkien's works, Inu Yasha, or Gene Roddenberry's works. I only own my own characters. Please ask me if you intend to use my characters.

CAUTION: Mild swearing and some violence and bloodshed.

NOTE: LOTS and LOTS of Tyson, Hilary, and Daichi bashing in ensuing chapters! YAY!

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Ch. 3: The Crowd (dedicated to my friend who has helped me think up various ideas for the story, thanks so much!)

"That's weird, Tanika said they'll be right behind me." Ray scratched his head, confused. Daichi yelled in his face, "You're thinking about that now! Haven't you noticed that we're stuck on top of a tall building!"

Ray grinned, "Oh yeah, that too." Kenny whimpered incoherently while Tyson stared down at the faraway ground while a sickly green tinged his face.

The gateway glowed brightly and Tanika stepped through, followed closely by Koguro, who had a very disgruntled look on his face. Hilary rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Finally, what took you two so long?" Max grinned in relief, "We thought you guys would never show up!"

Tanika brushed her long hair over her shoulder dismissively, "We had … business to take care of."

She looked around and walked over to the edge of the building and looked down at the ground. Koguro reached towards her but she shook her head and smiled, "Don't worry, I won't fall." Koguro stopped but his face still showed concern.

"Um... ex-excuse me… but what happened to your bitbeasts?" Tanika turned around and looked down at Kenny. "Our..? Oh! Loru and Raviamria stayed back, and they're not our bitbeasts, they are their own free selves… are you alright? You look a little green."

Kenny shook his head, "N-no, I'm fine." Tyson snickered, "He's just scared of heights, that's all."

Hilary put her hands on her hips and glared at Tyson, "Tyson, be nice!" Tyson stuck his tongue out, "And what if I don't want to?"

"Urgh! This is the last time, Tyson, why can't you just be civilized for once!" Hilary swung her fist at Tyson, who jumped backwards.

And landed on thin air.

Max and co. stared in horror as Tyson flailed for a split second, then vanished from their view. Tanika moaned, "Why, why!" She leaped off the roof of the mall. Koguro paled dramatically, "Tanika!"

Suddenly, something extremely heavy landed on Hilary, knocking her down.

"TYSON!" Hilary grabbed him in a bear hug and yelled, "Don't you ever dare do that to me again!" Tyson blinked dazedly, "Wha-?"

Tanika sat down heavily out of nowhere, "Goodness sakes, Tyson, how much do you weigh?" Koguro squatted down and glared at her, "I swear, if you keep doing things like that, you're going to give me a heart attack!"

Max and Ray ogled at the sight of Hilary almost strangling Tyson.

"Uh, Max… am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Ray stared fixedly at the sight before them. The shorter blond nodded slowly, "I think so, unless we're both dreaming. Look, even Kai is staring." Ray blinked and looked at Kai, who was staring with eyes wider than usual.

"Oh my god, Hilary's hugging Tyson!" Everyone flinched and glared at Daichi. Kai glared at Daichi, "You ruined the moment, Daichi." A fit of coughing brought their attention to Tyson. Max squatted beside Tyson and grinned, "Are you okay, Tyson?" Tyson blinked blearily at him, "Max? Aren't I supposed to be dead? What happened?"

Max shrugged, "Apparently not, Tyson. I think Tanika was the one that saved you, and Hilary-" Hilary snapped, "Shouldn't we be worried about where we are right now?" Kai raised an eyebrow, "And I thought your mind was only on Tyson the way you were hanging on to him like that."

Tanika watched Hilary with interest as the younger girl's face turned an unhealthy shade of red. 'This can't be healthy; it just can't be, especially for a human.' She turned as Ray scratched his head in wonder, "Wow, Tanika, you can fly?"

Tanika shrugged indifferently, "Of course I can fly, I'm a child of the dragons, after all." Koguro snickered, "Yes, and let me tell you about the time when we were twelve. Tanika here was-" Tanika punched him in the arm and hissed, "You're really into the business of making fun of me, aren't you?" Koguro grinned, "I'm just getting back at you for scaring me like that."

Kenny spoke up for the first time in a long while, "Um, is it my imagination, or are we in Australia?"

"WHAT!"

Eight pairs of eyes stared at Kenny in shock.

"You're joking, right?" Daichi shook Kenny's shoulders hard and wailed, "Tell me you're joking!"

"I-I'm n-not joking! Look, that's the Sydney Opera House right there! A-and stop s-shaking me!"

Kenny pointed in a random direction and everyone followed his finger to a building in the far distance. "Hey, I've always wanted to go to Australia!" Everyone glared at Max, who grinned sheepishly.

"How are we supposed to get back to Japan?"

"We're on top of a mall in a foreign country!"

"All this anxiety is making me hungry…"

"Shut up, Tyson!"

"I swear, Tanika, if you do this one more time, I will personally drag you back to Master Doriyeni!"

"Oh come on, Koguro, it's not like I'm going to die anytime soon."

"Hey guys," Ray waved everyone over to a medium sized cement block they had all missed in their mass confusion, "This door leads into the mall, I think."

"It's a trap door." Kai deadpanned.

"It's tiny." Tyson stated.

"It's dirty." Hilary glared at the door.

"It's our only way of getting down from this stupid building, and I cannot fly any of you down because I only learned to carry my own weight and a supply bag that's lighter than the lightest of you." Tanika folded her arms and nodded at the trap door, "so, who's first?"

"Um, none of us knows how to speak English…except for Max." Kenny voiced everyone's concern in a tiny voice. "Oh, right," Tanika sighed, "stand still and this won't get complicated. Max, move over."

Tanika held out her hand and chanted in a strange language. A circle formed around the small group of non-English speaking people and then disappeared, leaving a slight tingling sensation in the air.

"What was that?" Daichi asked. "It's a spell to let you speak the language of my choosing without learning it, which in this case, is English." Tanika nodded at the trap door, "_Now_ can we go?" Everyone stared at each other, then all turned to Tyson.

"…What?" Tyson stared back at everyone in confusion. Koguro smiled at him in a dangerously friendly way, "Tyson, we're all waiting for you to go first. So are you going to go, or do you need some …encouragement?" Tyson blinked and understanding crept into his features like maimed snails.

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"Wow, there are so many things!" Tyson and co. stared at the foreign shops from the bench they currently occupied.

"Koguro, come here!" Koguro walked over to where Tanika was bending over a glass case in a nearby jewelry shop. "Koguro, can I get this bracelet? It looks beautiful!" Tanika pointed at an elegant silver bracelet. Koguro paled dramatically, "Tanika, have you seen the price tag on that thing! It's- it's- my parents are going to kill me!"

"Come on, Koguro, please? Look, I'll make it up to you, I promise." Tanika schooled her features into innocence, "Please?" Koguro growled, "Fine, but you have to promise to make it up to me!" Tanika nodded fervently, "Yes, I promise!"

Koguro sighed and waved a saleslady over. He switched to English and pointed at the bracelet, "I want this one, please." The saleslady beamed, "Oh, that's a really beautiful bracelet, is it for your sweetheart beside you? It'll go so nice with her. You have such good tastes, young man!"

Tanika snickered while Koguro turned a rather dark shade of red and pulled out his credit card, "She is _not_ my… my sweetheart, and nor do I have one in the first place." The lady took his credit card and beamed again, "That's what they all say these days. Ah, men, so shy about such sweet matters." She beamed again and patted Koguro on the cheek, then left to register the purchase.

Koguro turned slowly and glared at Tanika, "You better make it up to me very nicely, or you'll truly regret it." Tanika smiled brightly, "Oh don't worry, Koguro, I will."

"Sure you will, that's what you always say." Koguro muttered under his breath when the saleslady came back with his credit card and the bracelet in a bag. "Come back soon!" The saleslady beamed and waved.

When they got back to the group, Hilary looked at Koguro questioningly, "Uh, why are you mumbling under your breath?" Koguro pierced her with a heated glare that would have rivaled the heat of the sun. Hilary back away, "Actually, I don't want to know."

Koguro gave the bag to Tanika and sat down on the bench and proceeded to give passerby dark glares. Tanika patted Koguro on the shoulder, "Oh come on, Koguro, the saleslady didn't mean it." When she didn't get an answer, Tanika shrugged and put on the bracelet.

"Isn't this nice?" Tanika smiled and showed everyone the bracelet on her wrist. Hilary's eyes widened, "Do you know how expensive this is?" Tanika shrugged, "Around two thousand or so."

Max smiled, "It looks really good on you!" At that, Koguro's mumbling turned to a low growl and he sunk lower down the bench. Daichi made a face, "What's wrong with him?" Tanika looked at Koguro uncertainly, "I don't think you want to know. A saleslady was getting on his nerves… the dangerous and fast way."

Suddenly, Koguro sat up straight and cocked his head, "What's that rumbling?" Ray looked around, "What rumbling… oh, we should… get out of the way!" They and several shoppers dived out of the way as a large group of middle-aged women stormed the place, screaming their heads off.

"What's going on!" Several shoppers and passerby voiced the same concern and shock.

Tanika looked around and suddenly saw herself surrounded by a continuous wall of the same middle-aged women that were still storming the area. What was disconcerting was that they were all fencing her in and didn't look very normal. The women closed in on her and Tanika felt their empty stares on her.

"Um, excuse me?" She smiled politely at the unresponsive women. 'Oh dear, I'm in trouble. Where's Koguro! Oh dear… alright, think, think!' Just as she was about to open her mouth, the women reached out and grabbed her in their cold, vice like grip.

"EEEEEEAAAAAGH!"

"Tanika!" Koguro's sense of dread heightened all the more at the scream. He barely took a step in the direction of the scream when he registered a baseball bat appearing in his line of vision and brilliant spots of grey and the tiled floor rushing up to him.

---------------------------------------------

Something wet was dripping on his face, something wet and cold. It was not a particularly pleasant feeling, now that he thought about it. He frowned at whatever was shaking his shoulders, making his pounding head feel like someone had put a large hammer to it. Or perhaps it was someone trying to take his skull apart.

He frowned again, this time at the ringing sound that was assaulting his ears. The shaking increased and the ringing turned into a voice heavy with concern. He forced his rather uncooperative eyelids to open and stared at the distorted face inches from his face. 'This isn't right,' he noted silently, 'a person's face shouldn't be distorted.' He suppressed the sudden urge to giggle.

"Finally, you're awake, that took you long enough, I was getting worried! ...Koguro, hey Koguro, say something!" Koguro groaned as his headache increased, "Shut up, will you? My head feels like it's about to explode." The face slowly became less distorted, "That's because you got hit on the head with a baseball bat."

Koguro squinted at the face, "What happened?" The face sighed, "Remember? We're in an Australian mall, and there was a stampede, and someone screamed, then I had to drag you out of there before you got trampled. It's hard to do when you're back in your wolf form and everyone was screaming. Very chaotic."

"Screaming…?" Koguro frowned, then understanding hit him like a stack of bricks, "Tanika, oh my god, where's Tanika!" He squinted at the face that finally came into focus, "Ray? Where's everyone else? And Tanika?" Ray pushed a struggling Koguro back down, "Look, I don't know where the rest are, but I'm sure they're ok."

Koguro stared wide eyed at Ray, "Ok? Ok! Have you gone insane! When you're with someone like Tanika, you're not going to be ok. Disaster strikes her like, like, a magnet to a refrigerator door! Do you know what will happen to me if she gets into trouble, or even dies!"

"For all we know, Tanika's already dead!" Koguro pushed Ray away and sat up, gasping as his vision exploded into tiny bright stars.

Ray sighed and grabbed Koguro's arm as he tried to stand, "Look, I'm sure they'll be ok. Kai can take care of them." Koguro glared at him and staggered over to the mirror and did a double take on what he saw.

Koguro stared at his disheveled and pale image. He slowly raised a hand and felt his head. Near his forehead was a very large, and angry looking bump. Koguro groaned in pain and splashed some water on his face, then tied his hair back into a ponytail.

"Let's go." Koguro stepped towards the washroom door and tensed as the room sharply tilted left. Ray opened his mouth, then closed it and sighed.

It had taken them almost ten minutes to reach the door, open it, and walk out into the bright mall. Ray forced Koguro into a bench and sat down beside him. "I wonder where they went?" Ray looked around the hallway, but all he saw were shoppers going about their business.

"They went to the left, down the hallway." Koguro and Ray stared at each other in surprise, then at an adjacent bench. An old woman was sitting on it and she smiled at them, "It's good to see another one of our kind, don't you think?" Koguro gasped and bowed his head as quickly as he could without another splitting headache, "Elder, I am honoured to meet you."

The old woman smiled and reached out a wrinkly hand to pat Koguro's hand, "Your family has taught you well, I see," she raised Koguro's head and examined his face, "ah, one of the northern ones, I see. I'm glad you're visiting Australia, my dear boy. I hope you like it here."

Koguro smiled nervously, "Actually, our coming here was an accident, we traveled by gateway." The elder nodded solemnly, "I see. Those gateways can be quite troublesome, can't they? Anyways, I should not prolong you in your search. Two of your friends just passed by five minutes ago, heading left."

"The dragon was quite worried, you know." The old woman continued, "She and another one. I believe his name is …Kai, is that not right? He seemed troubled." Ray spoke up, "You saw Tanika and Kai?"

The woman smiled gently, "Ah, a neko-jin. It's good to see one with a wolf, our two races should leave behind old prejudices and get on with life don't you think?" Ray smiled nervously, "Yes, it is… Please, you saw Tanika and Kai come by?"

The old woman nodded, "Yes, the dragon was an orange haired one, was she not? And the other one had blue hair, two blue triangles on each cheek? If you hurry, you can catch up to them." Ray smiled in relief and thanked the old woman, then helped Koguro get up.

Koguro bowed to the elder with difficulty and stumbled along after Ray, his old headache flaring up.

"Who was that?" Ray asked after he felt they were out of hearing range. Koguro blinked, "The elder? Oh, she's one of the elders of one of the packs here in Australia. She visited our pack in the north back then about something. That was when I met her."

Ray nodded and concentrated on holding Koguro up and looking for a sign of orange or blue hair.

---------------------------------

Tyson rubbed his back, "Ow, that hurt, Hilary!" Hilary glared at him, "Look, I said it already, I'm sorry, ok? It was an accident!" Tyson sniffed, "It didn't seem like an accident to me, the way you were stepping on me," he winced at the pain, "it felt like you were enjoying yourself."

Hilary's glare intensified, "I said I'm sorry already!" Kenny flailed his arms about, "Will you two please stop arguing? People are staring at us!" Hilary looked down at Kenny, "Oh, sorry Kenny. But you have to admit, it was Tyson's fault he fell down."

Tyson growled, "Hey, someone pushed me, and there was a big crowd too!"

Kenny sighed in exasperation as he followed the two arguing back and forth. Suddenly, he noticed bright red hair through a gap in the crowd and a very loud and familiar voice that carried a little too well, "Hey, Tyson! Do you always have to argue!"

The trio gasped, "Daichi? And Max, it's good to see you guys. What happened back there?" Max shrugged and grinned, "I'm not sure. I asked around the place, but no one else knows about the incident either. Apparently, that group of shoppers just appeared out of nowhere."

Hilary said, "Maybe we should ask around to see if anyone has seen the rest of our group." Daichi wailed, "What if those people come back again?" Tyson hit Daichi in the head, "Shut up, Daichi. Fine, this is what we'll do: we're not going to split up, so just ask some people and try and find the exit out of this place."

Hilary raised an eyebrow, "Wow, you've never been this clever before. Maybe that little trample really did you some good." Tyson stared at her weirdly, "I don't like that tone of voice, you know."

Max chuckled, "Come on guys, let's go and see if anyone has seen our friends."

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"Will you _please_ stop looking behind you? No one's going to come after us."

Tanika shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, "Oh really, then how come thirty minutes ago, a group of mindless people tried to kidnap me!" Kai sighed in annoyance, something he rarely did, "Look, you are exaggerating; those shoppers were just in a hurry to get to some sale that was going on, and they are not mindless."

Tanika stomped her foot down, knowing she was acting childish, "They _were_ trying to kidnap me, and you're right, they're not mindless, they're soulless! I could feel it, Kai, when they grabbed me! They were being controlled, I can tell!"

'Why do I bother!' Kai sighed again, 'I have to stop sighing.' He crossed his arms, "Look, this is what you're trying to telling me: A bunch of mind controlled zombies are out to get you." Tanika glared at him, "If you want to put it that way, yes!" Kai snorted and walked on, with Tanika closely following.

Little do they know, someone was watching them.

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Tyson and Co. are going to be in trouble very, very soon!

Well, I hope you liked it this far. It would mean a lot to me if you were to review. That would prompt me to type faster! Please tell me if anything is wrong or missing!


	4. Trouble Arises

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of Beyblade, J.R.R. Tolkien's works, or Inu Yasha. I only own my own characters. Please ask me if you intend to use my characters.

CAUTION: Mild swearing and some violence and bloodshed.

**NOTE:** So. This is Chapter 4. Enjoy. Oh, remember, Tyson and Co. are all speaking English, because of Tanika's spell. Also, an apology to the characters of Beyblade if they are getting OOC in this story.

Email me if you have any questions/advice/flames/etc. Or better yet, do it by typing up a review for me! Either way would be helpful and greatly appreciated!

* * *

Chapter 4: Trouble Arises

'This is insane. I knew this would get insane the moment I stepped into the gateway, or whatever it's called.' Kai's face was neutrally blank as he walked through the crowd.

"This is strange. I'm sure the elder was right when she told us the exit was this way…" Tanika was following along closely, albeit looking behind her less and less and time wore on. 'Yes, it's so fantastic that I'm stuck with some mythological being that shouldn't even exist. When have I started to talk to myself? I was never this sarcastic, was I? It could be the affect of insane people all around me.'

A hand appeared in his line of sight and he blinked, "Are you okay, Kai? You had a strange look on your face a moment ago." Kai ignored Tanika and muttered something that sounded to her like, "Definitely _not_ helping."

Tanika shrugged and ran after him.

Kai stopped and more or less glared at Tanika, "The old lady must be wrong. We haven't seen an exit for at least thirty minutes now." Tanika frowned, "Mm, I don't think so. Elders don't usually lie unless they have reason to."

Kai felt his eyebrow uncharacteristically twitch, "Then maybe she had a reason to." Tanika sighed, "This is no use. Maybe we should just go and ask someone for directions and-" She froze. Kai looked at her blankly, "What is it now?"

Tanika shivered, "Someone's following us. I can feel their gaze on me. The gaze feels so… cold." Kai raised an eyebrow wryly, "Perhaps it's one of your zombie friends looking for you."

Tanika shook her head, "That's not funny, Kai… Maybe I should do a Tabieskana just in case." Kai just stared at her blankly. Tanika muttered something and dragged Kai by the wrist to a secluded spot by a potted tree. "Make sure no one's looking," was heard over her shoulder and she turned towards the tree.

She closed her eyes and clasped her hands together with the forefingers and middles extended in front of her face. To any that might have been watching, the posture could have been passed off as praying.

A string of muttered words poured out of her mouth and a look of deep concentration settled on her face. Kai looked at her blankly before turning around and glanced around the area they were in.

A sign near an escalator told him that they were on the fifteenth floor of the mall. 'Fifteen more floors until we get outside…' Kai crossed his arms and leaned against the pot, waiting for Tanika to finish whatever she was doing. 'I don't see any suspicious people… Tanika is insane…'

He noticed a group of girls sitting at a table some distance away. They were giggling and ogling at him. 'How annoying…' The girls giggled harder and batted their eyelashes when he glanced at them. Kai turned his head away in disgust. 'I bet that idiot Tyson and the others are fooling around like they always do.'

A tap on his shoulder brought Kai back to the present. Tanika's worried eyes bore into his, "Kai, we need to get out of here, fast! There are at least twenty people converging on our position. We need to leave this place."

Kai felt his eyebrows twitch in annoyance and he stared down at Tanika, "Why should I listen to _you_ of all people? Besides, we still need to find that idiot Tyson and the others." Tanika sighed in frustration, "I know we have to find Tyson and the others. I'm not dumb, you know. And you should listen to me, unless you want to get killed."

Kai raised a blue eyebrow, "Really? I somehow doubt that." Tanika was about to retort when her eyes widened in alarm and fear, "They're here." She breathed. Tanika shuddered and grabbed Kai's wrist in a surprisingly strong grip and ran, or dragged, him onto the nearby escalator.

The moment they were on the escalator, Kai wrenched his arm free of Tanika's grasp and glared at her coldly. Tanika took no notice whatsoever, busying herself with continuously looking over her shoulder.

Kai sighed and looked around. He raised an eyebrow at Tanika.

"What?" Tanika looked at him quizzically.

Kai leaned back on the escalator railing (don't remember what it's called) and looked around him, "If we want to get out of this mall, why are we going _up_, not _down_?"

Tanika stared at him, "What?" She blinked and an innocent grin spread over her lips, "I don't know."

Kai resisted the irrational urge to hit something hard. 'Remember, deep breaths, deep breaths.' He regained his composure and asked, "Then shouldn't you do something about it?" Tanika chuckled nervously, "I guess so…"

Tanika looked at the floors below them, "You're not scared of heights, are you Kai?"

"No…"

She nodded gravely, "Good. Let's hope Koguro doesn't kill us. Oh, and don't scream or move. Just stay still."

Kai did not have time to reply as Tanika grabbed his arm and dragged him over the side of the escalator.

--------------------------------------

"Um, excuse me, have you seen a girl with orange hair and a guy with blue hair and two triangles on each side of his face come by here? They're about 15."

Tyson's little group had been asking around for news of their friends.

Daichi plopped himself down on a bench and groaned, "We're never going to find them." Kenny sat down beside him and moaned, "Oh, we'll never find them! We should just get out of this mall and find a way to get back to Japan!"

Tyson growled in frustration, "We can't just leave the others here, they're our friends! They'll be looking for us too."

Hilary leaned over the railing facing out into the empty space in the middle of the mall, "I hope whatever thing Tanika did to us to make us know English will hold out until we get back." She looked up at the higher levels and blinked, then squinted.

The air high above Hilary was rippling, and she could see irregular flashes of blue and orange falling with a strange rippling effect. As it sped past her, she felt a gust of wind. 'What was that?' When the phenomenon reached two floors beneath her, the flashing and rippling vanished completely. In the background, Tyson was yelling at Daichi about something.

The group looked up when Hilary came walking back with a strange expression on her face. "What's wrong, Hil?" Max asked. Hilary frowned, "I may have been seeing things, but I saw this weird rippling in the air, like when the air is hot, and then I saw these weird flashes of orange and blue. And when it went past me, there was this gust of wind…"

Tyson laughed, "You're probably seeing things. After all, it was you who saw this thing, right?" He started choking when Hilary grabbed his shirt and glared at him, "Are you saying that I'm _hallucinating!_" Tyson cowered from her and grinned sheepishly, "Calm down, Hilary, people are going to think you're some crazy hag."

The fire in Hilary's eyes flamed even higher at the comment.

Max sighed and smiled, "Well, those two are at it again." Kenny moaned and buried his face in his hands dejectedly. Daichi yawned at the two, "Those two look like they were made for each other, don't you think?"

Max nodded with a big grin on his face, "Yes, it seems so obvious, doesn't it?"

"WHAT!"

The three flinched as Tyson and Hilary's voice rose in anger. Flames rose up behind Tyson and Hilary as they loomed over their three friends.

Max chuckled nervously, "You know, guys, under lighting don't suit you. It makes you look way too evil." Kenny nodded fervently behind Max. Daichi coughed, "Shouldn't we be looking for our friends instead of arguing?"

"For once, Daichi isn't yelling…" Daichi sweat-dropped as everyone backed away from him.

"A flash of orange and blue, you say?" Everyone whirled around at the voice. An old woman had seated herself on their bench without them knowing.

"Ehhhh! Where the… how… what the!"

The old woman continued as if nothing had happened, "Ah, you must be talking about the dragon child and her companion… Kai, was it? He wasn't looking very happy, I'm afraid."

Tyson snorted, "Kai never looks happy."

The woman continued, "The dragon is clever, she will be alright." Max thought of something, "Oh, have you seen Ray and Koguro?"

"Koguro…? I remember now… he was such a sweet young pup back then. But then he had to go through all that training. Coming from such a distinguished pack must be hard on him."

Tyson grinned, "Alright, you saw Ray!" Hilary hit him on the head, "She was talking about Koguro, you idiot. She never said whether she saw them or not."

Tyson rubbed his head, "Jeez, you don't have to be so violent about it." Hilary ignored him and asked politely, "Um, so did you see Ray and Koguro?"

The old woman ignored her question, "Listen carefully, children, for you are all in grave danger. There will be people after you, and they are not to be taken lightly. Do not trust anyone, except for yourselves. Even your closest friend may be your downfall."

She turned to leave, "But there will be others, others who have good hearts. They will help you find what you seek. Keep your hopes strong, and everything will be alright." The old woman paused, "Tell Koguro this, 'Hold what is close to your heart dearly, for you may lose them when you least expect it."

She disappeared into the crowd, leaving behind five bewildered teenagers.

"What was _that _all about?"

"She never answered our question…" The five sighed dejectedly.

"What should we do now?" Daichi wailed. Several people frowned at him as they walked by.

Hilary sat down and looked around, "Hey, I just thought of something. We could use the elevator!" Max pointed at a sign near the elevators, "We can't. It's under maintenance." Tyson looked at him, "Wow, Max, you can read English? Whatever that weird girl did to us didn't make us know how to read English."

Max grinned, "Of course I know. I'm from America, remember?"

Hilary stuck her face in front of Tyson's, "That 'weird girl' has a name, Tyson!" Tyson folded his arms and grinned smugly, "You're just defending her because she's another girl whom you can hang out with, that's all!"

"Why you… you idiot!"

"Hey, my title's 'Third time World Champion,' not idiot!"

Kenny moaned and buried his face in his hands, "Not again, Tyson! We'll never get anywhere like this!" Max smiled and patted Kenny's shoulder comfortingly, "Come on, Chief, cheer up a little. This little trip could be fun!"

The younger boy groaned and Daichi put his hands behind his head, "Man, those two really like to argue, don't they?"

The aforementioned two glared at him, "Talk about yourself, Daichi!" Daichi jumped up and held up a fist, "Are you challenging me, Tyson!" Tyson whipped out his beyblade launcher, "Like you can beat me. I'm World Champ! No one can beat me!"

Daichi pulled out his as well, "Oh yea! We'll see about that! I'll defeat you and become the new Champion!"

Hilary waved her arms around, "Guys, this is a mall! Stop causing such a racket!" By now, a large group of curious onlookers had gathered around the two youths and some were even betting on the outcome.

Kenny moaned, "Why must this happen every time!" Max chuckled, "Don't worry so much, Kenny, I'm sure they just need to blow off some steam."

"Who's blowing off steam!"

"Hey, I'm your opponent, not Max! Now pay attention or I'll knock your Strata Dragoon to the moon!"

"Hah, as if that will happen!"

"Guys, break it up! This isn't a Beystadium, it's a mall!"

Kenny wailed in frustration and Max could only smile, resigned to what would happen.

---------------------------------------------

"So, your headache any better?"

"Don't remind me…"

"Ok, I'm sorry I brought it up, and why are you glaring at me?"

"Because it helps to relieve the pain."

"Oh, I see…"

Ray sighed, 'Why do I even bother? He doesn't even want to talk to me.'

A groan made him look at Koguro, who was holding his head in pain. "Are you ok?" Koguro glared at him, "Would you be okay if you had been hit with a baseball bat, then found out that we're only on the twelfth floor!"

"I guess not…"

"Exactly!"

"Well, let's go find the nearest escalator or elevator."

And so, they made their way to the nearest elevator…

"What do you mean, under construction!" Ray sighed as Koguro glared at the construction worker he was talking to. The worker flinched under the glare and apologized, "I'm sorry sir, but the elevator stopped working this morning and we've been trying to fix it since."

"Is the escalator also not working?" Ray was sure that the worker was going to melt from the heat of Koguro's glare. The scared worker shook his head timidly.

Ray swore he could hear a collective sigh of relief when he and Koguro left the vicinity of the workers. "It's not their fault, Koguro, so calm down." Said person growled, "You've never had to look after someone who can literally have you killed, do you?"

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"Never mind, you'll never understand. After all, you're a _neko-jin_."

Ray sighed for the umpteenth time, "Is this about what Tanika said back in that place…world?" His companion snapped, "No, and shut up!"

'I wonder when we'll find Tyson and the others. Having to stand Koguro's temper is really tiring…And of course, there's the fact that he pretty much hates me.'

Suddenly, a voice shouted, "Hey, isn't that Ray from White Tiger X?" Ray blinked. He turned around in time to see a large group of fans, mostly female, running towards him. "Uh oh…"

Koguro jumped out of the way in time and stared dumbfounded as poor Ray was mobbed by his screaming fans.

"Oh my god, it's Ray!" The girls squealed and Koguro winced from the volume.

"Marry me, Ray!"

"Can I have your autograph?"

"Ray, go out with me!"

A flustered Ray looked at the throng of fan girls, then over at Koguro, who still had a dumbfounded look on his face. "Help me!" Ray mouthed. Koguro looked at him disbelievingly and shook his head. Ray looked at him pleadingly and Koguro threw his hands up into the air in exasperation.

Koguro thought for a moment and an idea appeared in his head. All that was left to do was to make it work.

"Hey look, there goes Kai, the famous beyblader!" All the fans' heads turned as one towards the raised voice.

"Where is he! Tell us where Kai went!" Koguro pointed in a random direction and the fans ran off screaming about Kai.

Ray sighed and straightened his clothing, "Thanks, Koguro. I thought I would never get out of that. Say, I didn't know you beyblade." Koguro glanced at him dismissively, "I stay up to date with the news, that's all."

Koguro looked after the retreating crowd of fans, "You have such loyal fans, you know that?" Ray sighed, "I sometimes wonder why I get fans like that."

"Oh, well, maybe we'll have a beybattle sometime? That is, if you know how to beyblade."

When Koguro didn't answer, Ray looked around to see Koguro with his head tilted back. "Koguro, what are you doing?"

Koguro didn't answer and breathed in deeply.

"What's wrong?"

Koguro repeated the act once more before facing Ray, "We need to leave, _now_. Something doesn't smell right. Whatever it is, it doesn't smell friendly."

"What are you talking about? I don't smell any-" Ray was cut off by Koguro's snort, "Of course you can't. You're a neko-jin. Now shut up and come, unless you want to meet whatever's coming after us."

'What is wrong with him? And why does he hate me so much? It could be because I'm a neko-jin, but that conflict Tanika mentioned is long gone now. It's all past. Koguro sure knows how to hold a grudge.'

Ray realized Koguro was telling him something. "-stairs. They're faster, less people." Without a backward glance, Koguro strode off; his long strides making Ray walk at almost a running pace to catch up. "Say, what should we do if we can't find Tyson and the others?"

Koguro looked over his shoulder at Ray, "Then I'll be skinned alive by my family for getting into such a mess. To make myself feel better, I'll drag you along with me and put half the blame on you. Of course, my family will never believe me and put me down in the books as a lying coward who can't do his job properly." The tone in his voice was slightly strained, as if the wolf did not want to think about it.

Ray muttered, "Sorry I asked." His companion grumbled something inaudible and picked up his pace, "Hurry up. I can feel its presence."

The two went down a set of stairs and continued down another set when Ray felt a tiny twinge of dread in his mind and a shiver ran up his spine.

"You felt it too…I guess you're not as stupid as you seem to be."

Suddenly, Koguro came to a halt and turned sharply. Ray looked at him warily, "What is it?" Koguro's eyes widened, "It's Tanika!" He jumped down the rest of the stairs and ran towards the hollow center of the mall.

Ray caught up to Koguro as the latter skidded to a stop before the railing. Koguro looked down and took a sharp breath, "It's Tanika, and Kai! That manipulating bastard! When I find him, I'll skin him alive!"

"What are you talking about? I don't see Kai or Tanika."

Koguro looked down at the lower floors, "Of course you can't. That's because they're invisible. I bet that bastard put that stupid idea into Tanika's head! I can't wait until I get my hands on him. He'll regret the day he met me."

Ray had a large sweat-drop on his forehead, "Kai's not the type to do that, Koguro, especially if it means putting someone else in danger."

"Anyone who lays a hand on Tanika has to deal with me. I don't care if it's you or some stranger, as long as anyone touches her, they're in trouble."

'Why am I stuck with such an overprotective person who hates me again…?'

"Come on, there's no time to waste." With that, Koguro dragged Ray by the neck of his shirt down the next flight of stairs.

----------------------------------------

"I see they have been separated."

"Yes, my lady. The targets each have one other person with them. The others are in a group."

"I see… Get the boy ready. His first assignment will begin soon."

"Yes, my lady."

A soft glow surrounded an object and faraway rumbling could be heard in the background.

"Yes, what is it?" A different voice spoke up.

"Get him ready, I'll give you the signal when it's time."

"Of course. I'll begin shortly."

The odd glow faded away with the voice.

"Is there anything else, my lady?"

"They won't know what hit them. We'll gain the upper hand and win. Isn't that right?"

"Of course … would you spare a question, my lady?"

"Yes?"

"How exactly, will that boy's assignment do anything in our favour?"

"…Are you questioning me?"

"I would never do such a thing, my lady!"

"Then don't ask any silly questions, or you might find that you don't have a life anymore."

"…Yes, my lady."

"So... it's finally started… everything is in motion… Inform the others!"

"Yes, my lady."

A figure rose and a pair of boots faded into a long, dark hallway silently. Silence enveloped the room.

Blood red lips shone in the dark and the owner rose from her seat, "There is nothing left to do…except to wait."

* * *

Well, I hope you liked this chapter. If you have any comments to make, go ahead and do so….

Please tell me if you find my characters being in any way Mary Sue-ish and the Beyblade characters OOC and I'll try to correct my mistakes next chapter.

Hopefully, all of you who read this got the idea that Koguro hates Ray. I hope I made it obvious enough.

This is getting repetitive, but I'll say it again….please review! By reviewing, you'll get chapter postings more often!

Thanks for reading!


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